When the power goes out…Lighting

My next couple of posts will cover how I plan to deal with power outages.

There are many scenarios that can play out that will include the power going out.  What do you plan to do for lighting when the power goes out?

I have become addicted to finding cheap and safe lighting sources.  Like everything else, I have prepared in multiple ways light my surroundings. 

1 – Flashlights

One of the quickest and easiest things to do is to have a lot of small LED flashlights.  In the past, flashlights were toys for my kids.  I could NEVER find a working flashlight when I needed it.  Over the past year, I have purchased about 20 small LED flashlights for my house and cars.  I have found that the best way to make sure that these didn’t end up as toys was to label each and every one of them.  It has worked wonders!  Each of my kids has their own flashlights with their names on it.  I have one labeled “washroom”, “truck”, “bedroom”, “bathroom”, “nightstand”…you get the picture.  Because these lights are labeled, they don’t leave their assigned place. 

2 – LED Christmas Lights

This time of year it is very easy to find dirt cheap Christmas light strands.  I recommend you get a few LED strands that you can string up in your house to provide enough light to get around.  It’s not a lot of light, but enough that you can safely move around.  I have a couple of different ways that I plan to power these lights.  First, if I’m running the generator, I will run these lights off that.  If the generator is not running, I can plug a power strip into my small 12 volt battery bank / inverter setup.  This will run LED lights for many, many hours.  However, this isn’t a very efficient use of my battery bank.  Doing it this way, I will lose a lot of battery power converting from the 12 volt battery bank to 110 volt power with the inverter.

3 – 12 Volt lighting

I’ve mentioned before that I have a bunch of 12 volt batteries laying around that I use for my Ham radio hobby.  I was able to find some awesome 12 volt LED strings on EBay that put out a ton of light.  I was happy with them, but they were bulky and not easy to work with.  I was messing around on Amazon and I found exactly what I needed - Flexible Light Strip 300 SMD Bright White LED Ribbon 5 Meter or 16 Feet - The coolest thing about these LEDs...They can be cut every 3 inches, so you can do tons of fun little projects with just one roll of these lights.  My son wanted a lamp in his room so he could read at night and not have to use his emergency headlamp to see.  There really wasn't a good place to put a lamp.  These LEDs are perfect for the job. 

My Son loves it and best of all...My wife loves it too.  These lights are wired up to an old 3ah 12 volt battery that I had laying around.  I also purchased a nice little dimmer for $7.  So, I purchased 16 feet of the lights for $12.50 and used only about 3 feet.  Needless to say, my mind is going crazy thinking of all the fun projects I can do with these babies. 

My goal now is to figure out how to make some easily transportable 12 volt lamps out of these 12 volt batteries and LED strips.

4 – Kerosene Lanterns / Propane Lanterns

Lanterns are another great way of lighting your house.  I have both the traditional Propane “Camping” lantern as well as the old fashioned Hurricane Lanterns .  Both types of lanterns have their place.  I have chosen to have a couple of each so I am not tied to just one source of fuel.  Another benefit of both of these sources of lighting…heat.  Some of these lanterns are setup with a hot-plate on top that will allow you to cook or just provide warmth. 

5 – Candles

Candles have been used as a source of lighting FOREVER.  I recommend stocking up on candles shortly after Christmas.  Last year I scored big with candles on clearance at Walmart. 

A word of warning…From Coleman’s website –

 "We do not recommend using fuel burning lanterns indoors or in enclosed 

areas due to the danger of fire and the emission of carbon monoxide (CO) and
the effects of carbon monoxide exposure. Only battery-powered lanterns
should be used indoors."  Please use caution when using lanterns or candles indoors.  Fire and CO are dangerous.  Please make sure you keep these out of reach of children and that you use them in a well-ventilated space.